Alice in rapture, sort of

Alice in Rapture, Sort of

By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

This book has been on the challenged list.

This is a quaint story about a young girl who is about to start junior high school. Her two best girl friends think that having a steady boyfriend is necessary to make 7^th grade happen without a hitch. So, they all set out to accomplish this goal during the summer between 6^th and 7^th grades. This story reminded me of the diary my mother-in-law read to us last summer. She was actually older than these girls at the time she wrote the diary, but it was the same innocent attitude and exploration of boy/girl relationships by a young girl. She also had only her own feelings and her girl friends’ opinions to judge her experiences. My mother-in-law ended up marrying the boy she wrote about, and it was a long and prosperous relationship. Why this book keeps ending up as a challenged book, I don’t understand. Surely our sex crazed culture is beyond this level of 13 year olds and their first feelings toward the opposite sex being offensive to parents by now. How many 13 year olds are not kissing yet? This story does not go into anything more aggressive than kissing, so what is the problem with it?

Naylor, P. R. (1989). Alice in Rapture, Sort of. New York: Atheneum.